Alabama Or Bust Post #4

Les flew into Syracuse in late June to drive us back to Mobile. We still had small pieces of furniture, four brand new car tires and miscellaneous stuff that needed to be moved. Les had refused to allow us to put anything in the Jeep that he was towing behind the moving truck. Fifteen years of being a medic and having never driven a loaded truck while towing a full-size SUV on a trailer, he was uncertain of how it would handle with the extra weight. I was ready to load it up but now here we were, eight weeks later with all this stuff that should gave gone then.

Being a light traveler, I expected Les to be the same. After all, his trip would only be 4 days. When he emerged through the gate at the airport, duffel bag in hand, I was ready to make a mad dash to the parking lot when he informed me that we needed to wait for his luggage. “Luggage?” I Said. “Shouldn’t you have been able to fit everything in that duffel bag?” In my mind, 4 shirts, 4 shorts, 4 underwear, all rolled neatly to conserve space, along with a shaving kit! There was plenty of room in that duffel bag!

As we stood at the conveyor watching people anxiously await their luggage, a huge suitcase came through that could have carried three grown men. “Oh My! Somebody else is moving too! Lucky them! They got to fly their stuff to the destination!” I thought. Then to my horror, Les starts pushing through the crowd, knocking people over, and grabs that piece of luggage! Not being prone to arguing or loud shouting matches, I found myself pushed beyond my limits. Like a shaking dog trying to control itself next to a forbidden steak, I was trying very hard not to throw a fit! After all, he had just gotten off the plane and furthermore, had uprooted his whole life and paved the way to get me out of the north! I can’t turn mean now! Les didn’t see the problem, even when we got to the car and his suitcase took up three-quarters of the back end. He had yet to have seen what still needed to be packed.

When we arrived at the cottage, I calmly opened the suitcase to see what the hell was in there! I swear, he had everything from hurricane lights – in case a hurricane comes across Lake Ontario - to snow mobile boots - in case we run into a June snowstorm in Tennessee! There was nothing that remotely reflected what we were doing! I dreaded the moment when my drama queen, oldest girl came in and saw that suitcase! I laughed so hard I cried! Then started the process of deciding what we would do without. And that suitcase was one thing we would leave behind, since I had never seen it before that day!

Les was discouraged to realize that his social vacation was not social after all! It was a ‘get ready, close out business, run errands, finish paint jobs, collect pay, pack the car and get the hell out of there!' trip. We loaded the car the night before and eliminated two more suitcases. Les’s sister suggested, we “gypsy pack”! That means cramming loose stuff in every nook and cranny of the car! We were given a car carrier as long as we delivered it to its rightful owner, my sister in Panama City. What a blessing! We were able to put two of the tires in it and Shanon’s many stuffed animals that we all wondered how we got sucked into keeping! We loaded into the SUV at 3 a.m. and, literally, none of us could see each other! It was like four separate entities that could hear each other and even have muffled conversations, but we could not see each other! At rest areas, being the neurotic mom, I had to be last in the car and check each cubical to be sure they contained a passenger, then double check by taking attendance before pulling out, requiring a verbal “Here!” from all quadrants.

My stress level was so high that, as we drove west on Interstate 90, various scenarios flew through my head of getting stuck in NY. It was about 6:30 a.m., thirty minutes after passing through Buffalo. We had about twenty miles to the Pennsylvania line. In my mind, that was my mark of freedom, my new lease on life! Nothing could stop me now! The stress was melting away the closer we got. I was driving and started getting into a very relaxed, nostalgic state as I pondered our future in the south.

Suddenly the car jerked backwards and there was a loud snap! Nobody was sure what happened. Did we blow a tire? Were we hit? Suddenly, I looked in my review mirror to see the car-top carrier catapulting down the highway, end over end! Wide eyed with fear that someone would be killed by the stupid thing, I prayed to God and watched the cars go around it, like Moses parting the red sea! Thank God! I pulled the car over and called 911 while Les ran back and waited for a break in traffic to pull it off the road.

The operator told us to stay there until the police got there. As we waited, we talked about what was in there and EVERYTHING was too important to leave! The more the car whooshed into rocking motion from 18-wheelers whipping by, the more we discovered we could do without! My drama girl, whose old schoolbooks were a matter of finishing college or not, suddenly realized that her life would be just fine without them. The two tires that had cost $150 each were also something we could live without! I called 911 back and told them we were not in a safe place and needed to just go on. However, the officer taking the case insisted on rescuing our stuff so the dispatcher told us to meet him in the median crossover 13 miles ahead and he would bring our carrier. We did as told and again, waited another 30 minutes.

My body was now threatening to convulse in stress, as I feared being thrown into jail, prolonging my residency in New York! The more we waited, the more my stomach churned! Finally, the officer came, driving down the left lane with his flashers on, at 15 miles per hour, with his back door wide open and our carrier hanging out. We knew beyond a shadow of doubt – and he did too – that nothing else could fit in this car. We found out that, that type of carrier has a history of the whole bottom snapping out of it where the hooks attach it to the car, just as this one did. We weren’t the only ones this had happened to! When we opened it and the officer saw the stuffed animals and realized we were moving out of state, he was adamant that Shanon needed those and insisted that we give the crying girl the stuffed animals – which meant the girls were even more jammed in! We felt bad that, after all of his trouble, we couldn’t take our stuff. To my relief, he laughed as he kept saying, “ I never saw anybody not want their stuff before!” I just wanted to get the hell out of New York State, to cross that state line so that I could finally say I no longer lived there! The clock was ticking! Winter would come again! Run, Mary Beth, run!